Radioactive Love
by twiscififantasycontest
Summary: When their space station is attacked, physicist Isabella Swan and space technologist Edward Masen face the most intelligent and dangerous man to have lived on earth in the last two hundred years. This is how they hold on to the love that's blossoming for months as they struggle for survival. Can their love and radioactivity mesh together to create the perfect weapon of destruction?


**Author: TwiAddictAnne**

**Winner of _Judges' Vote Third Place_ and _First-Time Writer Award_.**

**Standard Disclaimer:** The author does not own any publicly recognizable entities herein. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Radioactive Love**

"Sir, can we hang Christmas decorations? I know it says that using any article that is not absolutely necessary is a punishable offense but... it's Christmas!" Bella pleads with Carlisle Cullen, the captain of the Space Station Esmeralda.

Carlisle smiles in that fatherly way of his and replies, "It is also considered a punishable offense to curse in my presence, Isabella, but that never seems to stop Dr. Masen from speaking his mind."

Bella feels the blush cover her face at the mere mention of Dr. Masen's name. A few months ago, four of them—Edward Masen, a space engineer specializing in nuclear reactor technology; Emmett McCarty, a space technologist; Jasper Whitlock, a space biologist; and herself, Isabella Swan, a theoretical physicist, joined the research space station Esmeralda as trainees.

Dr. McCarty and Dr. Whitlock took spots of very caring big brothers in Bella's mind almost immediately. Dr. Masen, though, was another story. From the moment they met at the orientation program Bella was completely mesmerized by the green-eyed, bronze-haired, and extremely energetic man.

Now, as most of the crew of Esmeralda has left the station for the holidays, Bella and Edward are the only ones who have remained with Carlisle; Edward because Carlisle is his only living family-his uncle-and Bella because aboard Esmeralda, she found the family she always craved for when she was bouncing around the foster system.

"What the fuck is this? Sir? Carlisle?"

Bella is snapped out of her musings as the man she has been crushing on comes running toward where she stands with the captain.

Carlisle's relaxed smile vanishes as he turns to look at his nephew. "What is it, Edward? Take a breath and then tell me why you look so flustered."

Edward takes a deep breath and then says quickly, "Captain, the sampler ship collecting water sample from Saturn that is scheduled to dock at the station tomorrow has not made contact with us like it was supposed to every twelve hours. And..."

"And?" Carlisle prompts him, a feeling of dread spreading through him already.

"I tried to make contact with them using the radio we have here, and there was no response." He thinks for a moment before continuing, "And I did some calculations that indicate a large amount of radioactivity is present where the spaceship was supposed to be half an hour ago. I think... I think it's been destroyed."

Bella finally decides to break the silence that follows Edward's declaration and whispers, "Destroyed? What do you mean destroyed, Edward?"

Edward opens his mouth, feeling the insane urge to wrap the beautiful girl in his arms and soothe her worries, but Carlisle stops him.

"Enough. There's no need to panic yet, Isabella. We'll figure it out tomorrow morning. Both of you go to your rooms and try to get some sleep."

The next morning, when Captain Carlisle enters the control room, he finds Masen and Swan huddled together in front of a computer screen. "What's the status, guys?" Both of the newbies turn to face him, with identical looks of horror on their faces.

Edward replies with as much control as he can muster, "Sir, according to the daily space newsletter, three other space stations have been destroyed by some unknown entity. However, according to my calculations, the number is six, excluding the sampler."

Bella decides to break the most horrifying news. "Sir, the newsletter said a Russian scientist was heard saying something about a _flying saucer_ before his contact with Earth was disconnected."

Carlisle feels a chill run down his spine but decides to act strong for the two trainees under his supervision. He asks sternly, "Did either of you get any sleep last night?" Bella looks down guiltily at her feet while Edward stares at him as if incredulous that his uncle could even think of sleep at a time like this.

Carlisle softens his tone and says, "Listen, guys, you won't be able to function properly if you are this tired. I need you alert when we get our orders from Earth. So, I suggest you go to your rooms and have a little shut-eye before re-emerging here."

Edward looks intently at his uncle, trying to decipher his mood, and then takes Bella's hand to lead her out of the control room.

Four hours later, Carlisle Cullen sits at the control panel with his mind running like crazy. He has calculated the pathway this _supposed_ flying saucer was taking and the velocity it must have to obliterate the space stations at the reported time intervals. Both of the results make him want to curse like Edward. According to his calculations, Esmeralda was right in the middle of the pathway, and judging by the velocity, the stupid saucer was going to reach Esmeralda within an hour.

Carlisle closes his eyes and imagines the green Earth, the beautiful place he was born … his home. Then his thoughts turn toward Edward, his only family—and Isabella, a girl whom he would have loved to have adopted as his own, had he met her when she was little. A sigh escapes his lips. He knows he has nothing more to live for. He enjoyed a happy life with his wife, Esme, before she was defeated by cancer.

Career-wise, he has had a fulfilling life as well. He is the youngest man in the last hundred years to be bestowed with the honor of being the captain of a huge space station like Esmeralda. But Edward and Isabella—they are both young and have their whole lives ahead of them, and Carlisle is pretty sure there is a budding romance taking place in their hearts, as well. He smiles at the thought of his stubborn nephew finally settling down with Isabella. Then Carlisle opens his eyes, knowing what needs to be done and that he has only 57 minutes to do it.

The sound of Carlisle's voice on the intercom startles Bella awake from the vivid dream she was having. "Dr. Masen and Dr. Swan, report to the control room immediately." She quickly runs toward the control room, almost tripping over her feet. But at the last moment Edward catches her from face planting. At any other time, Edward would have smirked at her for her clumsiness, she was sure of it, but today Edward only checks her to see if she's all right.

Once they are both standing before him, Carlisle starts speaking. "Listen up, the flying saucer thing is heading toward Esmeralda… quickly. If you want to escape it, go to your dorms, change into a space suit, and report back to me—in five minutes." Edward opens his mouth, obviously noticing his uncle's hardened expression, but Carlisle holds up one hand. "It's an order."

Bella and Edward exchange a glance before running toward their separate rooms.

Three minutes later, when Edward comes back into the control room, he stops dead in his tracks. From the doorway, he sees his uncle unbutton his shirt collar before running a hand restlessly through his hair. _Something's not right._ Edward feels it in his gut as he steps up to stand before his uncle and asks him, "Sir, why aren't you dressed yet? We don't seem to have much time."

"We have no time at all, son," Carlisle's voice sounds tired as he turns to face Edward.

Bella chooses that moment to enter the room and frowns at the two men standing face to face. "Umm, guys? We should get going if we want to leave Esmeralda… right now."

Carlisle turns to smile at the naïve girl before facing the questioning stare of his nephew. "What I am about to say is a direct order, and I want you to follow it without asking questions."

Edward's body stiffens as he suddenly realizes what his uncle is about to say even before the words leave his mouth.

"In exactly two minutes, both of you will enter the small space ship I have prepared for launching at the dock. You will close the door and set the coordinates stated on the instruction letter I have left in there. Then you will set it for maximum velocity and start for Earth. Do not stop. Do not waste time. I have left another envelope in there addressed to the Head of the US Space Agency. I want you to give that to him when you reach Earth." He looks down at his watch and says with forced calm, "Your two minutes are up. Get going."

Bella realizes that Carlisle is trying to sacrifice himself and starts to shake her head vehemently with tears running down her cheeks. "No, _no_! Sir, Carlisle, I—we cannot leave you here. You have to come with us, please."

Carlisle smiles softly at the sweet girl standing before him. "Isabella, I cannot leave the station unmanned. I will try to stop the bastard from following you. But if I join you two, we will all die. And honestly, I have no regrets in my life. I have raised a very good and smart man." He pauses to glance at Edward, who simply stares at him, and then continues. "I have had a happy and productive life. Though I must say, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to see you walk down the aisle one day should you decide to get married."

Bella lets out a choked sob, and Edward automatically wraps his arms around her, disregarding the rulebook, which says _no undue physical contact between fellow space travelers_.

Carlisle sees it and smiles, inwardly knowing he has made the right choice.

Edward runs his hand up and down the sobbing girl's arm before glaring at his uncle. "_This_ is what you want? You said I won't be an orphan—ever. And now you are leaving me alone? How is that fair, Uncle? Tell me."

Carlisle lets out a breath, already knowing it was coming, and then answers his nephew with confidence. "It's not fair, son. I know. But life's not always fair. I am not leaving you alone. You may not realize it now, but one day you will. I need you to leave now, Edward, for Isabella. Please, listen to me."

Edward wants to shout at him for being a selfish jackass and leaving him to fend for himself. But the girl in his arms, the girl who is desperately clutching his shoulder blades, makes him nod. He lets go of Bella before walking toward his uncle.

Carlisle hugs the boy he had promised his sister to care for and then lets him go.

Edward again takes Bella in his arms before leading the way toward the dock, all the while looking at his uncle—the man who was the only father he has known since he was five years old. His vision blurs with the tears that have been quickly accumulating in his eyes, and one more look at the profile of his uncle and he turns around to face his space ship.

Carlisle Cullen lets out a silent sigh as he hears the space ship leave the dock. He may not be going back home, but he'll be damned if the fucker behind this shit gets to his boy. He steels himself as he takes his seat before the crystal laser emitter and waits for the saucer to show up on the radar.

Exactly 43 minutes later, Edward lets out a ragged sigh and says in a lifeless voice, "I think Esmeralda just got annihilated."

Bella makes a sound that is closer to a whimper before wrapping her arms around the man who just lost his last living relative.

Four hours have passed since Edward predicted Esmeralda's demise, and according to the calculations Edward used before, Bella knows that if the saucer had followed them, they would have already been dead. She starts to feel a slight relief from the stress of the last few hours when Edward suddenly grabs her hand.

"Edward, what is it?" she asks, fearing her calculations were wrong somehow.

"The radar, it picked up a signal… coming from a device that looks like an upturned saucer." Edward's voice is hoarse with panic—for his own life and for the girl sitting beside him.

Bella stares, feeling dumbfounded, at the screens before her. Then suddenly a flash of light hits their eyes, momentarily blinding them. And then there's nothing but blackness.

The first thing that registers in Bella's mind when she opens her eyes is that she's alive. She tries to remember exactly what happened after the burst of light, but it's all blank. That moment, there's a knock on her door, and then Edward peeks in. Bella throws away the scratchy blanket she was sleeping with and runs to his arms.

As soon as she's in his arms, Edward feels his body relax. For the last half an hour, he was going bat-shit crazy with worry. He has roamed from door to door knocking and looking for Bella. After a few moments, Bella lets go of him and meets his eyes. "Edward, where are we? How can we be alive?"

Edward puts a finger to his lips before entering the room fully and then closes the door behind him. Then he points to a screw on the doorknob and asks, "Bella, what do you make of this?"

Bella's eyebrows furrow as she replies, "That's a 3-point screw, isn't it?"

When Edward simply nods, she processes the information, and then a sudden moment of clarity hits her. "But… but that means… that means this was made on Earth. This is no alien abduction, is it?"

Edward shakes his head and sighs. "No. We're in some kind of a space station, I think… full of humans… and that means it is a human who is doing all this shit."

Bella feels rage color her vision. _A human… a human was doing this? A human killed Carlisle and all those other scientists? How can a human do such a thing?_

Before she can say something, Edward asks her, "Do you think they are listening to us right now? You know, like they do in old spy movies? Because I just walked around randomly for half an hour and nobody tried to stop me."

Bella thinks for a moment before a plan strikes her. She winks at Edward and then asks loudly, "Edward, do you have that micro-explosive in your watch? We can create havoc with that and then try to take over this place."

It takes Edward a few seconds to catch onto her game plan, and then he nods and replies, "You're right. I completely forgot about that. Let's see…" Before he can finish his words, the door opens and a red-haired woman walks in carrying a tray of food. She sets the tray down and, without even sparing them a glance, walks back out.

Bella finally allows herself a faint smile. "No one is listening. You can concoct any escape plan you want in here."

For the next hour, they rack their brains for plans, but nothing seems workable. Just as they decide to give up until they've met their abductor, the door opens again. The woman is back, this time accompanied by an olive-skinned man with a head full of dreadlocks. The man says in an emotionless tone, "You are being summoned."

For an instant, Edward considers asking him who the fuck is summoning them, but it doesn't seem very likely that the guy will answer. So he stands up and offers his hand to Bella before following the messenger out of the room.

Dreadlocks-guy doesn't even turn to check if the prisoners are following him or not. In fact, no one looks at them as Bella and Edward walk side by side behind him. Edward sees an opportunity and then, pretending to tie up his shoelace, crouches down to pick up a small hammer that's been lying on the ground beside a man working on some kind of shield.

Bella is too engrossed in her thoughts about their future to look around her. Suddenly the dreadlocks-guy stops and waves his hand toward a doorway, indicating they should enter. Bella glances at Edward before stepping inside the room.

It is a sterile-looking almost bare room with two sets of sofas and a large box-type unit sitting beside one sofa. A man stands in the middle of the room with his back facing the newcomers.

Hearing the door close behind them, he turns with a furious expression on his face and then thunders, "Which one of you bitches shot my Paul?"

Edward is about to start protesting that they haven't shot anyone when he hears Bella gasp beside him.

Bella feels the floor beneath her feet liquefy at the sight of the dark-skinned black-haired black-eyed man. She almost lets out a shriek of panic. "You're Jacob Black."

Edward feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the sound of the name. He recalls the story he heard when he was a student at MIT. Jacob Black was the most brilliant scientist the United States had ever seen. He also was supposed to have vanished… almost two hundred years ago. It is said that Black was the youngest man to ever be recruited by NASA. He then flew off the handle, killed eight people in a massacre, and then when the authorities went to arrest him, he laughed. He proclaimed himself a genius far above the present generation of scientists, and then he stole the time machine one of his fellow scientists was making and said he would emerge in the next century.

Once he finds his voice, Edward says, "If you are Black, you wouldn't be here. You said you'd go to the last century, not this one."

Black lets out a bark of cold laughter. "I _am _Black, boy. I have been to the last century, and they were still too pathetic for my liking. So I came here to meet your sorry ass. Now tell me, who shot my Paul?"

Edward arches an eyebrow in seeming nonchalance and asks, "Who the fuck is Paul? We haven't met anyone in here other than Redhead and Dreadlocks since you snatched us up."

Black looks menacingly at him before replying, "Paul as in Paulson, my space ship. Which one of you shot my ship?"

For a second, Edward feels the urge to claim the pride of shooting the fucker's toy, but the honor was his uncle's. So he says in a serious tone, "Neither of us did that. That was our captain, Carlisle Cullen. Since you don't deserve to see his face, he decided to stay at the station until the last moment."

A cruel smile curls up Black's lips as he says, "He was a stupid bastard, thinking that he'd fight me with a toy-laser gun… huh… fucking idiot."

Bella suddenly feels all her fury return as she says through clenched teeth, "The idiot you're talking about did a shit-ton of damage to you freaking ship, didn't he?"

Black scoffs. "Meh, it only took my team three hours to repair it all. Paulson is good as new."

Edward cannot help but sneer. "And all the people you lost? Did you manage to repair them as well?"

Black's head snaps back to look at Edward. "How the fuck do you know about that?"

Edward smirks. "I _didn't_ know about that. It was mere speculation… which you proved to be right."

A grin breaks out on Black's face. "Boy, you are an intelligent one. Good. I need new crew members. So, why don't you two take a seat while I discuss what I'm going to do with you."

Bella feels a shudder go through her. "What do you mean _do_ with us?"

Black laughs at her expression. "Don't worry, little girl, I don't mix work with pleasure. What I meant was since most people I have working for me here are held against their wills, I need to sort out which ones I need. The ones I don't have any need for end up dead… for some weird reason." Then pretending to ponder it, he waves his hand toward the sofas. "Shall we?"

Edward takes the seat beside Bella, closer to Jacob so that he can attack him if the opportunity presents itself. However, the minute he sits down, Black turns toward Edward and holds out his hand. "Hand it over, pretty boy. I know about the hammer."

Bella looks at Edward in confusion and sees him reach inside his jacket and then place a small hammer in Black's hand. As if it were a daily occurrence, Black puts it down by his feet before turning to face his prisoners. "So tell me, what do you do?"

Edward runs a hand through his hair in frustration before saying, "I'm a nuclear reactor engineer."

Black smiles before looking at Bella. She murmurs, "I'm a theoretical nuclear physicist…"

Black's smile broadens as he exclaims, "Holy Fuck! I've hit the jackpot! I need both of you on my crew. Welcome to Samson."

Edward asks with apprehension, "Who the fuck is Samson?"

"Samson is this space station… my kingdom, you could say." Black grins at him.

"What's with all the _male_ names? Are you gay? Should I be worried?" Edward tries to set Black off by finding his weakness.

But Black replies in a teasing tone, "Wouldn't you like to know, pretty boy?" Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he points at the box-like thing beside him and says, "Before you join the crew, you should meet Athena."

Bella tries to put on a brave front and asks, "What does it do? Sing karaoke?"

Finally Black's face hardens, and he picks up a folder resting on top of Athena. "You want to know what she does? Listen to this: 'Isabella Swan is a thoughtful and methodical person. She tries to plan everything out beforehand. This morning she will ask Edward about a fake explosive in his watch to check if they are being observed.' Do you realize what it does?"

Bella's mouth dries up as she asks hoarsely, "It can read our minds?"

Black shakes his head. "Nope. It tells the future. You see, Athena is a very powerful supercomputer. It can see and hear everything and everyone aboard Samson. Knowing your behavioral traits, it predicts what actions you may take in the future."

Edward lets out a curse, making Black smirk at him. "Uh-huh, Athena knew the route you would take to come here, and she predicted that you will try to kill me with that hammer. Fascinating, isn't it?"

Edward rolls his eyes before looking intently at Black. "So we can't even think about killing you?"

Black shakes his head. "I'm not heartless, pretty boy. I give everyone three opportunities to try and kill me. You can plan all you want, but the moment you set a date and time for executing the plan, Athena lets me know, and I give you a warning. The fourth time you try… you are not a _required_ member of my crew anymore."

Bella shivers before asking the question that has been plaguing her mind. "How long do we have to remain here?"

Her voice is so heartbroken, Edward feels an urge to wrap her in his arms to take away the pain, but he stops himself when Black turns his dark eyes on them. "There's no time limit here, doll. However, I have promised a team of German astrophysicists that I will let them go in two years."

Bella sounds hopeful that this nightmare's gonna end someday, as she asks again, "So, we have to stay for two years as well?"

Black narrows his eyes at her before smiling. "Fine. You get two years as well. Now get to work."

As they are escorted back toward their rooms, Bella realizes how many days would two years contain. Soon she loses all hope and feels herself on the verge of depression.

In the next few days, Edward and Bella fall into a sort of a routine. They have both been appointed to work under the supervision of James Ramsey, a nuclear reactor specialist who designed both of the reactors in Samson and Paulson.

Edward's job is less monotonous than Bella's. He has to make sure the reactors were working perfectly after a few hours and, in between, help James design his newest reactor model.

Bella, however, is not so lucky. She has the job of separating uranium isotopes for fueling the reactors. At first she gets excited, thinking if she can accumulate enough U-235 to reach critical mass, she could use the atomic bomb to threaten Jacob into letting them go. But, of course, Athena tells Jacob about her plan. So Jacob makes sure Bella can never find enough uranium to reach the critical mass. Whenever he sees Bella in passing, he sneers at her, "Hey, little girl, how far did you get with that atomic bomb there?"

Slowly, the other scientists tell Bella and Edward that Jacob has made it his _noble mission_ to remove war from the world and to do so he wants to unite the whole world under one regime: his. He has abducted many scientists from different space stations or spaceships over the past few decades—scientists who people on Earth thought had gone missing when in space.

By their third week on the Samson, Edward and Bella have turned into robots—just like the other residents of the station. During the day, they don't even see each other. But when they are allowed to rest, Edward sneaks into Bella's room and holds her in his arms while she softly cries in her sleep. Every morning, Bella wakes up to see the handsome face of the man she has fallen in love with, knowing whatever happens to her, she won't be alone.

Two months after their abduction, Bella is sitting in her room, thinking about Carlisle and feeling guilty for letting his sacrifice be in vain, when there's a knock on her door. She stands up and finds Edward on the other side, and he quickly enters the room and closes the door. He puts a finger on his lips, telling her to be silent, and then takes her hand to pull her inside the bathroom.

Edward takes a towel off the rack and throws it over the pinhead camera above the light, and then he opens up all the taps and showerheads letting water whoosh out. Bella looks at him like he has completely lost his mind and asks in a whisper, "Edward, why the hell are you doing this? You know whatever we do; Athena will let Jacob know about it in advance."

Edward shakes his head before smiling at her. "Bella, I've thought of doing this in so many ways but, never like this." He takes a deep breath and says, "Bella, I love you."

Bella tries to figure out why his loving her needs to be a secret and asks, "So? I love you too, Edward. What's with all the secrecy?"

Edward grins at her before saying rapidly, "Athena doesn't know. You see, I had finally decided to let you know how I feel about you when I get my break today, but Athena predicted that I would come here to plan with you ways to kill Black using carbon monoxide."

Bella holds up a hand to calm him down. "Whoa! Slow down. How did you find out about this?"

Edward shrugs. "Black wanted me to explain the way the new reactor is going to work and called me in his office. When I was there I just asked to see Athena's predictions for today out of morbid curiosity. And there I saw the glitch."

Bella starts getting excited as well. "Of course, Athena is a machine. It has no idea about human emotions like love or happiness. Human emotions cause change in one's usual behavioral traits, making it mess up the predictions. So it gave the wrong prediction where our emotions are concerned. You are a genius, Edward."

Edward grins back at her. "Now we can hatch an actual plan while Black thinks we're discussing carbon monoxide."

Bella frowns. "I wish we could turn off Athena. Black is completely dependent on it. But that's not possible, is it? I mean, it must be kept under constant scrutiny."

Edward nods before something hits him. "How about the reactors? Is it possible to shut those off? James told me the one in here supplies electricity throughout Samson. If we shut it off, Athena will be shut down too."

Bella bites her lip, her mind racing. "It's possible but how can you get to the reactor? The only entrance to the reactor room is through James' office."

Edward brings up a hand and tucks a stray lock of Bella's hair behind her ear. "Can you keep him occupied for a few minutes? That's all I will need."

Bella starts nodding and stands on her tiptoes to finally kiss the man she loves when, with a sudden crash, the bathroom door bursts open.

"Shut off the water and remove the towel. _Now_." Jacob Black looks like an angry bulldog as he barks out the order.

Bella quickly moves away from Edward to do as asked, while Edward meets Black's glare head on.

Jacob furiously asks him, "What the hell were you two talking about?"

Edward tilts his head and sneers at him. "Don't tell me your precious Athena hasn't told you yet?"

Jacob's jaw hardens as he laughs. "Of course I know what you were talking about. I just came here to tell you… don't ever try to hide from Athena." He turns and marches toward the door with his team of bodyguards in tow. Just before exiting the room, he turns to face Edward. "Masen, you should know I have a complete air filtration system in Samson. So your carbon monoxide idea won't work."

Bella cannot believe her ears that they've actually managed to cheat Athena. When Edward curses loudly and grimaces at Jacob, she knows they finally have a chance to fight back.

That night when Edward sneaks back in her room, Bella turns around to face him. When he raises one hand to cup her cheek, she leans into his touch. When he brings her lips to meet his in a soft kiss, she pushes him down on his back before rolling on top of him. And then there's nothing but Edward and Bella… the yin to her yang… the only man she has ever loved… who loves her back.

The next few days, Jacob sees, with rising alarm, that Athena is predicting wrong things about Edward and Bella. For example, when it said they will be in their separate rooms resting, Jacob finds them resting… but in Edward's room… together.

After four days though, everything starts to go back to normal. Jacob knows that Edward and Bella spend most nights together, but he didn't give two shits if they are fuck-buddies or not. As long as Athena can hear and see them, he couldn't care less about their relationship.

During the twelve days since the planning, Bella has spent most of her free moments either in Edward's arms or doing long mathematical calculations. A sigh escapes her… a happy sigh. _Edward_. She cannot believe even in this poisonous atmosphere around them, she has fallen in love. She loves Edward. Bella lets out a startled shriek when suddenly her door opens, breaking her out of her reverie.

Edward casts a worried look around Bella before asking, "What is it, baby?"

Bella laughs at his worrying. She laughs now because of Edward… her Edward. She shakes her head before taking hold of his shirt collar and pulling his lips to meet hers.

Edward smiles against her lips. His arms wrap around her torso before slipping his hands just under the hem of her shirt. Then, very carefully, he draws a smiley face on her lower back.

Bella instantly realizes what he is doing. He's giving a sign… they are ready to roll. She leans back to meet his bright emerald green eyes, and knows it's time. Too bad for Jacob Black, machines cannot read human emotions from their eyes.

Every Tuesday both nuclear reactors are scheduled to be refueled. So when Tuesday morning Edward enters the reactor room, no one suspected him of doing anything. However, only James is allowed in the refueling zone. But Edward knows his Bella will keep that skinny-ass bastard from coming after him.

Edward quickly puts on layers of radioactive shielding before carefully stepping inside the refueling zone. Then he starts to replace the fuel tubes with the ones Bella prepared for him… with the wrong isotopes. He feels his hands shaking with worry over what is going to happen once James catches up with him.

What he doesn't know is that James is lying face-down, at Bella's feet, on the floor outside the reactor room… blood rushing out of the bullet hole right in the middle of his forehead.

Bella's plan is a simple one. From the brief encounters she has previously had with James, she knows the guy was a heartless bastard, probably an equivalent of Satan but with a true interest in theoretical physics. So when she gets up to him, to keep him engaged, she starts discussing some random problem she had faced with her dissertation.

However, the minute Edward opens the door to the refueling zone, Athena sounds the alarm, making James jump out of his seat. He looks wildly at the screen, where Edward can be seen walking toward the trays containing fuel tubes, and then he turns toward Bella. He almost shouts his command. "Swan, lock the bastard in _now_."

Bella feigns a sudden interest in her fingernails and asks in a calm voice, "Why would I do that?"

James curses loudly before opening up a desk drawer and pulling out a gun. He doesn't give Bella a warning before he pulls the trigger. Bella quickly ducks out of the way, taking advantage of his sloppy aiming, and then when, he points the gun at her again, she throws her hands at him, trying to wrestle the gun out of his hand. In the sudden assault James loses control of the gun, and it goes off moments after Bella manages to turn the thing around. Now, as Bella stands with James' lifeless body lying at her feet, she prays to every deity imaginable for Edward to succeed.

Twenty minutes later, all members of the crew aboard Samson are found gathered in the big auditorium. In the middle, Bella and Edward are tied to two chairs facing a very irate Jacob Black. Jacob starts addressing the people in a thunderous voice. He tells them how Bella brutally murdered the extremely talented James Ramsey and how Edward, being rogue, disobeyed orders and entered a restricted area. Finally, he turns his glare to the prisoners and demands, "How the fuck did you do it? What did you do in that room, Masen? Tell me!"

Edward smirks at him. "Wait, you mean to say the all-knowing Athena hasn't told you about what I did? Huh! That's a puzzler!"

Bella carefully twists her arm to check the time on her wristwatch. One minute left… in one minute they will have the upper hand. Looking up at Jacob's face, she sees his eyes flash with anger as he scowls at Edward. "I don't know how you did it, damn it! By some fuckery you two have conned Athena. The bitch didn't say a word about this shit."

A collective gasp of wonder comes out of the amassed people before all start to talk at once. Black yells in frustration, "Shut the fuck up!" and at that moment, all lights and electric equipment in Samson shut down. Edward grins at Bella, knowing their evil plan is working.

Everyone stops talking, moving and even breathing. After a few moments of pin-drop silence, the emergency dynamo starts working with a groan-like noise. As soon as a few yellowish emergency lights flicker on, Jacob walks right up to his prisoners and asks Edward, "You two did this, didn't you?"

Edward looks thoughtful before answering, "That depends. Do you believe in ghosts? If yes, then you can blame it on them, but if not, then you have to accept the fact that two of your _prisoners_ just outsmarted you."

Jacob narrows his eyes. "You think I can't remedy this? I'm Jacob Black. I will get this repaired and you two—you two are going to face my wrath."

Bella finally opens her mouth. "Jacob, in case you didn't notice, James is kind of dead… though totally by his own fault. His gun, he shot, he died. Anyway, the only man who has enough knowledge to repair your nuclear reactor is Edward. So even if we are tied up here, we have the power now."

Jacob whirls round to face her. "You think so, bitch? How about I kill your lover boy here and then go and kidnap some other reactor engineer?"

Bella arches her eyebrow before saying in a calm voice, "You can do that. But you should probably take a sail with you. You know, because the reactor in your Paulson needs to be started up using the power from the one in Samson. But hey, you can try and see. Maybe some intergalactic-wave will move the sail for you?"

With satisfaction she notices Jacob's frustration escalate. Then he marches back to Edward and says, "If you repair this, I will forgive you."

Edward looks at the man like he's insane and scoffs. "Forgive? Dude, are you _that_ delusional? Here I was thinking of ways to make you beg me for mercy."

Jacob warns him, "Do not try my patience, Masen. I will chop you up into nice little chunks if you don't do as I say."

Edward grins at his opponent. "Oh, what the hell? We all have to die sometime, right? So I'll die a few hours before you. Big deal! If I don't repair this shit, you're gonna die when that dynamo dies and you know it. Besides, if I die making sure a monster like you never hurts anyone else, I am sure God will give me a free pass to Heaven. He may even let me watch your sorry ass die."

A wild look crosses Jacob's face, and he leers at Edward. "You like to watch, pretty boy? Remember the day we first met? You asked me if I was gay. What if I _showed_ you how non-gay I am? How about I use your little bitch here for a demonstration? You've seen my genius, my criminal tendencies, and my insanity. How about I show you my sadism?"

Bella feels a shudder of hatred run through her body. She turns to look at Edward.

Edward doesn't even look at Bella, not wanting to see the fear in her eyes. Instead, he starts shouting, "You fucking bastard. You keep your fucking hands off of my girl, you hear me? You touch a hair on her freaking head, and I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

Jacob calmly stares at him and says, "I have no particular interest in touching her. But if you don't do what I ask, I will be provoked to do so."

Once Edward understands Bella is not in any immediate danger, his rational mind starts working, and he replies, "Fine. Even if I do repair this shit, you need to promise us that you'll let us go back to Earth."

Jacob considers for a moment before nodding. "You got yourself a deal, pretty boy. Now get to work. By tomorrow morning, I want my station up and running."

Edward lets out a bark of harsh laughter. "Are you insane? No, don't answer that. I know you are. Here's the thing, bucko. Any machine takes only moments to be destroyed but days to be repaired. We'll need at least 2 days."

Jacob wants to argue, but he knows what Edward is saying is true. So he acquiesces, "All right. Two days. Take as many technicians as you need. Get my Samson up and working again."

Soon Edward and Bella are escorted to be locked up in separate cells with an iron-barred panel separating them. They are to be kept under constant scrutiny so that neither can speak to the other. The first day, Edward works day and night with a big team of technicians. He takes apart the whole reactor before putting it back together again so that no one but he knows what exactly he repaired.

That whole day, Bella does nothing but sit in her cell and solve some very scary-looking math that was about a hundred pages long! At the end of the day, when Edward returns to his cell, Bella reaches out to touch his hand. The guard rolls his eyes, probably thinking they are being a typical sappy, romantic couple. But, at that moment, Bella hands to Edward a tiny piece of paper with some numbers written on it.

The next day, Edward tells the technicians to take the day off, while he checks his work and compares it to that of Paulson's.

Jacob feels restless with no means of spying on the boy, but with Athena shut off, he has no option but to trust the hot-headed Romeo.

On the day of handing the control over to Jacob, Edward performs process checks before switching on the nuclear reactor. Slowly the yellowish hue of emergency lights gets replaced by the bright light from the reactor power supply.

Jacob finally smiles with relief and orders Laurent, his chief bodyguard, to get Paulson ready. He needs to get some good reactor engineers before killing that little shit Masen and his whore.

Once Laurent is gone, Edward takes Bella's hand before stepping in front of Black and says, "We're coming with you. You can kidnap whoever the fuck you want and then drop us off on Earth."

A leer forms on Jacob's face as he asks, "And what gave you that idea, pretty boy?"

Bella looks at him suspiciously and reminds him, "Jacob, you promised us that you'd take us back to Earth once everything was repaired."

Jacob scratches his head and asks, "Really? I said that? Well, too bad, chica, I lied. I'm never going to let you go. I'm going to find some more capable people for my crew and then come back and squash you and your pretty boyfriend. It's your problem if you believed me."

Edward suddenly lets out a maniacal laugh. "You think we believed a son of a bitch like you? We knew you'd piss out once you got your precious _Sammy_ running again."

Bella shoots him a warning glance and sternly says, "Edward, don't!"

Edward smiles at his girl apologetically and shrugs. "I am sorry, baby, but I think we can tell him now. After all, there's not much time left."

Bella sighs in resignation before nodding for him to continue.

Jacob feels a sense of alarm take hold of him and asks in a deceptively soft voice, "You didn't believe me. So you did something. What is it, Masen? What did you do?"

A lazy grin lights up Edward's face as he starts speaking. "You know basic physics, Black. So you must know what a nuclear reactor does. It controls a nuclear chain reaction using cadmium rods. Now, what will happen if those cadmium rods are cut into little pieces?" When Jacob doesn't reply, Edward continues, "The chain reaction will start, but it will not be controlled anymore. And what do we call an uncontrolled chain reaction? An atomic bomb."

Fear squeezes Jacob's heart in a vise-like grip as he listens to Edward's drawl.

"So what Bella did was calculate exactly how much we needed to cut the cadmium rods to make the bomb explode after fifteen minutes. And then I just cut the rods in the reactor of your Sammy." Glancing at his watch, Edward says again, "In about eight minutes Sammy, here, is gonna explode taking you to hell and us to Heaven. Isn't that brilliant?"

"Laurent! Gather every one of my loyal people and tell them to board Paulson in exactly 2 minutes. _Go!_" After barking off the order to his lapdog, Jacob turns to face Edward. "You die and go fuck in your Heaven. I'm leaving in my ship."

Bella speaks out, trying to make Jacob cower in fear. "The reactor in Paulson needs more than eight minutes to start up. You won't make it out of here in time, Black."

Jacob leers at her. "You know shit about my ship, girlie. When needed, Paulson's reactor can start up within eight seconds. So you stay and die with your boy toy here. I'm Jacob-fucking-Black. I was born to live, not die like your pathetic lot. However, I do regret not being able to kill you two myself. But hey, time's of the essence and all that, you know!"

That moment, Laurent comes out to tell Jacob they're ready and with a wave at all the scientists and technologists assembled at the dock, Jacob steps inside the spaceship. Finally Bella lets go of the breath she's been holding, before meeting Edward's eyes.

A few minutes later, Edward and Bella find themselves in the middle of chaos. Most of the people Jacob left on board Samson were on the verge of breakdowns when they heard what Edward and Bella told him. Now, as Bella tries to calm everyone down, no one pays any heed to her. She is looking helplessly at Edward when suddenly the Redhead woman, Victoria, curses loudly. "That piece of shit is mocking us!"

Following the direction she's pointing, Edward and Bella see the maliciously gleeful face of Jacob Black staring at them from the giant screen on the communication unit.

When Jacob sees people glowering at him he gives a wave and says, "Sorry, guys. Though I couldn't personally slaughter every one of you, I intend to enjoy your last minutes from Paulson."

Edward wraps an arm around Bella's waist and says, "You know, Black, it will be my regret too, that I couldn't slaughter you personally."

Jacob's eyebrows furrow as he asks, "What was that? You're about to die, you fucker. You'll never get to slaughter me… personally or otherwise."

Edward laughs loudly. "Yeah, don't be so sure of it. Just like you can lie, so can we. So now I'll tell you the truth. When I told you that we turned Samson into a bomb, I actually meant Paulson. That means you are sitting on a ticking bomb right now, Black. And being a generous bastard, you decided to give us a show of your ass bursting into flames in…"—Edward checks his watch— "… about twenty seconds."

Jacob gulps before turning his pleading eyes to Bella. "Swan… Bella, tell me he's lying, isn't he? You guys didn't do anything like that. _You couldn't_!"

Bella squares her shoulders and grins at him. "We could and we did. I'd say see you in Hell, but like Edward said, I'm pretty sure when we die, we'll go to Heaven." Jacob falls down to his knees. His face looks like he has aged ten years in the last minute. As an afterthought Bella adds, "Oh, and one more thing: only Edward gets to call me Bella, not a psychotic piece of shit like you."

A pitiful sound like begging comes out of Black's mouth, and then the whole screen vibrates before going blank. In the main control room, the Geiger counters make beeping noises to alert everyone that nearby, a nuclear explosion has taken place. Slowly the people surrounding the screen start clapping and laughing. Bella meets Edward's smile with a bright one of her own.

_Freedom_…

Once everyone has allowed their heroes to escape the control room, Edward goes to Black's personal office. There, sitting on his desk, is his personal communication device—the only way of contacting the people on Earth.

When he finally gets the Head of the US Space Agency online, he tells him how to find the space station and then reads his the letter that Carlisle had left in the spaceship, for him to share with the world. Carlisle has donated a quarter of his assets to the US Space Study Center and the rest—he has left to Edward.

Edward feels sadness squeeze his heart when he finishes his call. He stands up to go and search for the only thing that can heal his heart: his talisman… his Bella.

Standing in the middle of her room, Bella plays with the nametag she was given when she joined Esmeralda. Her thoughts turn to Carlisle, and she sighs, realizing that maybe she and Edward will be able to fulfill Carlisle's last wish.

Suddenly two strong arms envelop her from behind in a warm hug. She smells the fresh honey and sunshine scent of her man and smiles before leaning back into his touch. Edward leans down to kiss the side of her neck. Then Bella turns around in his arms and places her hands on his muscled chest. She looks into his eyes and says with conviction, "I love you, Edward. I don't know how I would have survived in such a venomous atmosphere if you hadn't been with me."

Edward's eyes twinkle. "I love you too, Bella," he says returning her words with equal passion. "You are the good in my life. Through all this darkness, you have lightened up my life like a unique entity… like a sun rising at midnight."

Bella lets out a giggle. "Okay, I think you're getting too cheesy there." Then she slides her hands up to entwine them around his neck. Edward takes the hint and leans down to meet her lips halfway.

He softly, adoringly brushes his lips across hers before smiling crookedly against her lips. "I don't mind being cheesy for my girl. Just don't tell Em when you see him next week. The fucker won't let me live it down."

As soon as the words register in her head, Bella stops and whispers, "What did you just say?"

Edward grins at her and replies, "I said, I made contact with the Head of the US Space Agency and he's going to send a team to get us back home. Roughly speaking, we'll be home in a week. So you better not say anything about my cheesiness to anyone there, love." He kisses the tip of her nose.

Bella lets out a shriek of laughter before pulling him down and kissing him fiercely. Soon passion overtakes them, and they are pulling and pushing each other to get skin-to-skin contact. When Edward finally joins with her in the most intimate way possible, a single drop of tear escapes Bella's tightly closed eyes.

Edward freezes at the sight before leaning down and kissing the teardrop away. Then he asks her, "Did I hurt you, Bella?" Bella quickly shakes her head, seemingly, unable to say anything. Edward stares at the beautiful girl underneath him and asks again, "Then why are you crying, baby?"

Bella realizes she is scaring him and opens her eyes to meet his worried face. She smiles broadly at him and whispers, "I'm just happy. I can't believe I had so much happiness in store for me."

Her revelation makes Edward laugh out loud in his usual carefree way. He kisses her ear before nibbling on her earlobe as he whispers, "If this makes you happy, once we get back home, I am going to make you ecstatic, baby." And then he starts moving, claiming, marking, loving his girl… his Bella.

The moment before sleep claims her, Bella looks into the face of the handsome man who has his arms wrapped around her and thinks to herself, "_This is ecstasy… this is Heaven. _Edward _is my Heaven._"

**~~~ The End ~~~**


End file.
